Care and feeding: The Humphead Glassfish is omnivorous

Photo provided by Flickr
I keep a Ghost cat in my 75 gallon semi-planted tank along with Bala Sharks, Hatchets, Catfish, Rainbows and other assorted fish. The Ghost Catfish was one of the coolest fish to see because it is realy like glass, you can see through it. It is very unique because i've noticed that when he starts to turn a whitish powder color, the water is not rite, such as the ph level or ammonia level is off. He is easy to care for and eats shrimp pellets, tubafex worms, and flakes. This fish also can get to be a good 4 inches so he is a nice size for smaller tanks. I love this fish and I'm sure you would love it too.Photo provided by Flickr

The Humphead Glassfish, like other glassfish species, are surprisingly hardy and adaptable. But unlike some glassfish that need a brackish water environment, Humpheads are strictly freshwater fish. These fish are fairly easy to care for and make a most intriguing curiosity for a freshwater community tank. They are generally peaceful with other tank mates, but are a boisterous and energetic at feeding time, and they will eat smaller fish. They have a surprising large mouth and will readily snack on a guppy or danio sized companion. They can be kept singly, but if kept in a school males will get scrappy with each other for dominance, so there must be at least 8 or more fish.
Photo provided by FlickrPhoto provided by FlickrPhoto provided by FlickrDifficulty of care: 5. The Glassfish is an interesting, but short-lived fish which does not usually live for more than 2-3 years. The addition of salt lessens the chance of this species to develop fungus. The Glassfish requires a diet including live foods.Timid fish? Ha! I bought six and placed them in a 75 gallon tank that also contained a male Betta I was quarantining because he was a bully. The Glass Fish took very little time to school together and promptly start following the Betta, even taking a nip at his tail! I tried to distract them with frozen bloodworms, and they left off. However, the Betta began avoiding them whenever possible, staying under the powerful filter current that he had such a hard time swimming under. It's true the Glass fish swim away when I approach the tank, but they are bold and curious otherwise. And they are positively rapacious when I feed them. Unfortunately, they seem picky. They don't care for Brine shrimp or freeze dried Tubifex, and never notice pellets whether they float or sink. They also won't scavenge the bottom, even if there's juicy bloodworms on it. Even the Betta isn't so picky!

Why Does Tapping on Glass Scare Fish

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To clean dirty fish tank glass. Well, we have the glass inside the aquarium and outside the aquarium.

Let's start with outside the aquarium. You want to use something that's not going to be toxic to the fish. If you're going to use Windex or some kind of spray cleaner please don't spray it directly on the tank. Even the slightest bit of molecules will find their way into the aquarium and could potentially kill some of the bacteria and harm the fish. So spray it on a towel or paper towel ten to 12 feet away from the aquarium, and then bring it to the aquarium and clean the glass with that.

I prefer using just regular warm water. For glass, newspaper works really well. It'll take that film, that salty film, off the aquarium. I've used newspapers for years to clean glass. It'll leave your fingers a little bit black, but it does really, really well at cleaning glass.

I wouldn't use it on acrylic because it'll scratch the acrylic. If you have acrylic or plexiglass you want to use a very soft terry cloth towel and a cleaner that's made to be used for acrylic. You don't want to use anything that's ammonia based as it'll burn and stain the acrylic.

So, to clean the dirty aquarium glass, the outside like fingerprints and stuff, just use regular water on a paper towel or a household towel. That usually cleans the outside of the aquarium just fine.

If you have hard water stains, like if you have hard water from keeping African cichlids and the water has dribbled down the side of the tank and it leaves that white crystal stuff, you could just dissolve the hard minerals in water. Just take some really wet towels and try to pat the aquarium, and keep doing that until you dissolve some of those minerals. There are also hard water stain removers. They sell them at fish stores just for this purpose. They're called Lime Away.

And on the inside of the aquarium if it's dirty you want to clean it. It's probably algae. You want to use a regular algae brush either handheld or on a stick and just get right in there. Or, use a magnet one on the outside and one on the inside, an aquarium magnet, and clean the algae that way.

And that's really the only dirt that you should find in the aquarium. You're not going to find detritus or waste settling on a viewing panel. It's going to be algae, so don't be afraid of it. If you wake up one day and your tank has a nice brown film on it don't get scared. We get calls to the fish store and our service company, oh my God, the water's brown, what is this, is the tank sick. No. It's just normal algae that's growing, diatom algae. So you just want to get in there and clean it out and not be afraid of it.